(1) n. the wax-impregnated fibre sheets used as stencils in mimeography;

(2) v.t. to cut the prepositioned matter into stencil, the last step before publication.

The stencil is typed with typeribbon disengaged, cut with a stylus (smoothpointed piece of metal in a handle) and a rough celluloid sheet under the stencil, or with a shading screen. An ineffable blessing is obliterine. The number of copies from mimeoing is limited only by the durability of the stencils (somewhere in the thousands), and stencils can be saved and filed after use by blotting between newspapers for later re-running if necessary.